2012 Waco Regional

Regional Schedules

1. Baylor Bears (4)

Waco, Texas

At-large bid from Big 12

2012 record: 20-4, 44-14 (first in Big 12)

Head coach: Steve Smith (Baylor, 1986)

Record at school: 663-429-1, 18 years

Overall record: Same

Assistant coaches: Mitch Thompson, Steve Johnigan, Trevor Mote

Team offense: .311 BA, 380 R, 38 HR, .440 SLG%, .407 OBP, 84-117 SB

Team pitching: 3.15 ERA, 509 IP, 456 H, 165 BB, 391 K

Top hitters: Josh Ludy (.363/13/64), Logan Vick (.347/2/33/16-23 SB), Dan Evatt (.320/7/26), Lawton Langford (.320/0/20), Max Muncy (.317/6/52), Nathan Orf (.315/2/28)

Top pitchers: Josh Turley (9-0, 1.64, 93.1 IP, 78 H, 18 BB, 67 K), Trent Blank (10-1, 2.07, 91.1 IP, 75 H, 22 BB, 50 K), Crayton Bare (2-0, 1.69, 16 IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 18 K), Dillon Newman (3-3, 2.37, 38 IP, 34 H, 8 BB, 38 K), Max Garner (2-2, 4.97, 10 SV, 41.2 IP, 16 H, 39 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2011 (2-2 at Houston Regional)

Notes: What happens when you take a Regional team and improve its batting average by 60 points and reduce its ERA by nearly a full run? You get Steve Smith’s Bears, who rolled through the Big 12 and the rest of the country for much of the year. Baylor won its first 18 Big 12 games and had a 23-game winning streak during the season. Leading the transformation was Big 12 POY Josh Ludy, who hit .336 with 34 RBI a year ago and went .363 with 64 this year. Another key is that Baylor puts the ball in play and gets on base, ranking seventh in OBA. Logan Vick is a terrific athlete who set the school mark with walks a year ago and put together another fine season. On the mound, Josh Turley was 8-5 in his career before going 9-0 and nearly unhittable. Trent Blank was a part-time starter and was 8-4 before going 10-1 this year. Opponents hit less than .230 off each of them.

2. Dallas Baptist Patriots

Dallas, Texas

At-large bid as independent

2012 record: 39-17

Head coach: Dan Heefner (Olivet Nazarene, 2001)

Record at school: 184-102, five years

Overall record: same

Assistant coaches: Jim Blair, Wes Johnson, Austin Knight

Team offense: .304 BA, 385 R, 59 HR, .479 SLG%, .384 OBP, 67-89 SB

Team pitching: 3.82 ERA, 483 IP, 463 H, 209 BB, 377 K

Top hitters: Ryan Behmanesh (.402/8/32), Boomer Collins (.376/12/55), Austin Elkins (.356/9/44), Joel Hutter (.338/11/66), Landon Anderson (.312/3/35), Ronnie Mitchell (.291/3/26)

Top pitchers: Stuart Pudenz (5-1, 1.23, 8 SV, 36.2 IP, 14 BB, 47 K), Michael Smith (4-1, 2.93, 61.1 IP, 56 H, 17 BB, 53 K), Taylor Massey (8-4, 3.46, 78 IP, 74 H, 31 BB, 71 K), Andrew Elkins (4-1, 3.86, 60.2 IP, 55 H, 17 BB, 32 K), Cy Sneed (8-4, 3.98, 81.1 IP, 84 H, 25 BB, 70 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2011 (3-1 at Fort Worth Regional, 0-2 at Berkeley Super Regional)

Notes: Dallas Baptist is in the field for the second straight year and third overall. The Patriots were one of the stories of 2011 when they reached the Super Regional round, losing to Cal. Coach Dan Heefner and DBU experienced a ton of turnover, with two new assistant coaches and a virtually retooled lineup and rotation. The result is an identical record to last year’s Regional team. One returner is Ryan Behmanesh, who missed time with a broken hamate bone and then was hit by a pitch, but has had a huge year nonetheless. Others are Joel Hutter, who has driven in 17 more than last year at this point, and Landon Anderson. Closer Stuart Pudenz is 6-5 and has a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s. DBU ranks 10th in the country in homers.

3. UT Arlington Mavericks

Arlington, Texas

Automatic bid – won Southland Tournament

2012 record: 19-14, 36-23 (tied for third in Southland)

Head coach: Darin Thomas (Oklahoma Christian, 1988)

Record at school: 121-111, 4 years

Overall record: same

Assistant coaches: Jay Sirianni, Troy Conkle, K.J. Hendricks

Team offense: .278 BA, 338 R, 23 HR, .363 SLG%, .360 OBP, 54-82 SB

Team pitching: 3.67 ERA, 518 IP, 570 H, 193 BB, 308 K

Top hitters: Ryan Walker (.368/0/30/14-18 SB), Preston Beck (.335/13/70), Preston Morrow (.313.0/20), Michael Guerra (.293/2/40/16 2B), Jordan Vaughn (.271/1/30), Matt Shortall (.262/5/25)

Top pitchers: Michael Oberto (0-1, 1.56, 1 SV, 40.1 IP, 38 H, 12 BB, 20 K), Adam Boydston (2-3, 2.15, 8 SV, 46 IP, 41 H, 17 BB, 27 K), Lance Day (12-3, 2.98, 117.2 IP, 120 H, 32 BB, 68 K), Collin Reynolds (4-1, 5.00, 66.2 IP, 82 H, 22 BB, 38 K)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2006 (0-2 at Austin Regional)

Notes: UT Arlington brings a seven-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament. The Mavericks swept a homer series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before going 4-0 to win the Southland Tournament in San Marcos. UTA faced Dallas Baptist twice during the season, losing 3-0 and 12-6. The Mavericks split a pair with Baylor and did not meet Oral Roberts. UTA is making its fifth NCAA tourney appearance and first since 2006. The Mavericks are 1-8 in regional play, with the win coming over Rice, 7-6, in 2001. Preston Beck set a school record with 70 RBI. Lance Day has matched the program record for single-season victories with 12. Adam Boydston has 24 career saves, the top mark in UTA history.

4. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Automatic bid won Summit League Tournament

2012 record: 17-6, 37-23 (first in Summit League)

Head coach: Rob Walton (Oklahoma State, 1986)

Record at school: 366-165 (Nine years)

Overall record: same

Assistant coaches: Ryan Neill, Ryan Folmar, Wes Davis, Brian Aguailar

Team offense: .275 BA, 345 R, 42 HR, .396 SLG%, .368 OBP, 33-51 SB

Team pitching: 2.87 ERA, 511.1 IP, 449 H, 166 BB, 417 K

Top hitters: Jared Schlehuber (.322/13/55/15 2B), Jose Trevino (.318/13/55/18 2B), Cam Schiller (.313/8/50), Logan Domenico (.312/0/15/.466 OBA), Bennett Pickar (.303/2/32), Kevin Cho (.254/0/25)

Top pitchers: Joe Spring (6-2, 1.79, 70.1 IP, 64 H, 15 BB, 48 K), Drew Bowen (6-2, 1.87, 81.2 IP, 72 H, 18 BB, 66 K), Alex Gonzalez (6-2, 2.04, 79.1 IP, 55 H, 21 BB, 63 K), Kurt Giller (6-4, 3.39, 82.1 IP, 63 H, 34 BB, 77 K), Matt Rush (0-2, 4.67, 4 SV, 17.1 IP, 18 H, 8 BB, 18 K)

Last NCAA appearance: 2011 (3-2 at Fort Worth Regional)

Notes: Death, taxes and Oral Roberts winning a conference title… The Golden Eagles won their 15th straight conference title, the second-longest streak in NCAA history (Oklahoma State, 16). Overall, Oral Roberts is making its 25th trip to the Regionals. Jared Schlehuber was the Summit Player of the Year, Drew Bowen was the league Pitcher of the Year and Jose Trevino was Newcomer of the Year. Trevino set the ORU freshman record with 13 homers. The Golden Eagles rank sixth in the nation in ERA, and opponents hit .240. Alex Gonzalez yields a .195 average and has allowed only 10 extra-base hits. Kurt Giller began his career at Nebraska, redshirting at ORU in 2011. Coach Rob Walton starred at Oklahoma State, tossing a shutout at the College World Series during his senior season in 1986 – the first in the CWS since 1976. He was the head coach of the 2008 USA Baseball National Team.